The horizon changed.
Gone were the quiet ruins and forested paths. Ahead stretched the Broken Steppe—a scarred wasteland cracked by ancient battles, littered with skeletal trees and blackened stone. Wind howled constantly, carrying whispers of cultivators who had died chasing forbidden power.
Lyen pulled her cloak tighter. "No one crosses this land unless they've already given up on being found."
"That's why we're here," Veylan muttered. "The clans won't risk following you into this place—not yet."
Tian Rui's eyes scanned the distance. His body still burned from the battle at the temple, but the relic within him throbbed like a steady drum. The sigils on his skin had stopped glowing, but they hadn't vanished.
They were part of him now.
And in the silence of the steppe, he could feel something calling beneath the surface. A hum, barely audible, but familiar.
The earth recognized him.
---
By nightfall, they found shelter in a jagged cave hidden behind a collapsed ridge. Veylan sat cross-legged by the fire, sharpening one of his twin blades. Lyen leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching Tian Rui with unreadable eyes.
"Since the altar," she said finally, "you've changed."
He glanced at her. "Would you rather I hadn't?"
"No." Her voice was soft. "But I don't know if this change is something I can protect."
Tian Rui said nothing.
She looked away. "I just don't want to lose you to it."
---
Outside, the wind shifted—and with it, they came.
Figures cloaked in tattered gray, their faces veiled. Unlike the scouts from before, these beings didn't walk—they glided. Their steps made no sound. Their presence made the air colder.
Veylan rose instantly. "Shadows of the Steppe," he whispered.
"What are they?" Tian Rui asked.
"Remnants. Echoes of cultivators who tried to defy the old laws and failed. Their souls twisted by failed breakthroughs or corrupted spirit roots."
One of them floated forward. Its voice scraped the wind like dry leaves.
"He bears the Fallen Root. We remember."
Tian Rui stepped forward. "What do you want?"
"To test. To break. Or to pass on what was once stolen."
Then the world shifted again.
The cave vanished. The fire dimmed. Tian Rui found himself in a field of ash, surrounded by whispering ghosts—each one wearing a mask shaped like his own face.
They began to chant: "What will you do with what you've taken?"
A hand rose from the ash, grabbing his ankle.
Another voice, closer: "Will you consume? Or be consumed?"
Tian Rui clenched his fists. The sigils on his skin glowed again. He dropped to one knee and slammed his palm into the earth.
"I didn't ask for this root," he growled. "But I'll use it. Not to become like you—but to surpass everything you feared."
The wind answered him with silence.
Then the ash melted, the ghosts faded—and a single sigil remained on the ground. Glowing.
A key.
---
He woke with a jolt in the cave, soaked in sweat. Lyen rushed to his side. "Rui!"
He looked at his hand. The key-mark was still there, burned into his palm.
"What happened?" she asked.
He rose to his feet, calmer than before. "I passed another test."
Veylan watched him carefully. "How many more do you think are coming?"
Tian Rui stared out across the Broken Steppe. The wind howled again.
"As many as it takes."